(A/N: Or: Lucina gets promoted to Great Lord, the chapter. It's not extremely implied, but I like the image. Although this may or may not be referenced in A Mini Shepherd's Promise, you don't have to read this chapter if you don't want to.)

They managed to convince her—or maybe force her—to stop at the garrison on their way home. No one seemed to question it too much, given that the garrison was typically where those who lived farther away from Ylisstol branched off. Laurent and Brady left when they got there, so that left Lucina, Morgan, Owain, Kjelle, and Cynthia (the last of which was going to leave the rest a little bit outside of Ylisstol, while Sully was already at the garrison to bring Kjelle home).

When Brady and Laurent left, Sully had come in their place and greeted them as soon as she noticed. "I didn't think you kids would come by," she noted. With a smile, she asked, "Did you kick butt? Chrom promised you'd kick butt, or else I probably wouldn't have let you freeze yours off."

"Unfortunately, we lost," Kjelle said. "It's a bit disappointing; it was going fine until Brady stopped listening."

"Says the person who defected second," Owain replied bluntly.

Kjelle glared at him for a moment. "Shut up. I didn't see you taking it seriously."

Sully chuckled before Owain could make up a response. "At least you kids tried," she said. "I'll just put you through your paces when we get home—or when I visit Ylisstol, for everyone that isn't mine." Glancing at the rest of them, she said, "Aside from dropping my kid off, what did you kids stop by for?"

Cynthia glanced at Lucina, then looked back at Sully. In a respectfully low voice—not that either of the boys were paying attention, since Owain was trying to get Morgan to agree that Owain did best out of everyone who retreated quickly—Cynthia asked, "Can you show us where the armor us? One of us girls need it."

"I can show you," Sully offered with a nod. She gestured for them to follow, and the girls obeyed.

Apparently they kept spare armor—whatever was bought but never used, or used but not too beaten up—in its own closet of sorts. Sully opened it and said, "All right, I trust you not to ruin anything—I have parental authority over one of you. If Lucina doesn't stop you from doing something stupid, then Kjelle will."

Sully offered a little wave and went back to where the boys were. After she left, Kjelle started looking through the armor while Cynthia carefully prodded around as well. Lucina simply stood to watch, frowning. "You don't need to find me armor—I can protect myself on my own."

"Those cuts say otherwise," Kjelle replied simply. "Let me at least find something to cover your chest to you don't end up getting impaled."

"I defend well enough to know not to die," Lucina retorted. "Even if I didn't, no one would let me get close."

"Exactly—that's why we're here now," Kjelle said stubbornly. "I can't help you defend what you've already hurt, so I can't really stop you from whatever happens when your arm gets cut off or something—but I can stop you from getting a lightning bolt to the chest."

"Or a sword, or spear, or lance, or fire ball…" Cynthia added, still maintaining some cheerfulness. She smiled at Lucina. "We're just trying to help, Luce. This armor's just sitting here, going unused anyway. What happened at Ferox wasn't life-threatening, but I've heard Morgan babble on about tactics to know that going with as little protection as you do can cause harm."

Lucina only stayed silent and watched them. Cynthia found a shield which Lucina declined, while Kjelle found a breastplate and showed it to Lucina. "Here, this can stop people from immediately killing you," Kjelle said. She gave it to her, and with the same intended-helpfulness as before she added, "I can help you put it on."

"I'm not completely incapable," Lucina replied a bit sharply. She understood the attempt, but she didn't want to carry through—at least one person would take note of the armor and question her, whether that be someone at the castle or one of the Mini Shepherds. As a result, she didn't intend on wearing the armor as intended; maybe if she knew she would fight, but she could manage herself enough alone that she could protect herself from any kind of lethal attacks (and even if she couldn't, she knew with grim certainty that someone else—whether they be one of her parents, her friends, or even her brother, cousin, or aunt—would at least attempt to take the blow for themselves). She wasn't fond of this well-meaning, worried attention.

Nonetheless, she did put on the armor as requested. Cynthia smiled a bit when she saw it. "Wow, you look really professional! Here, I want to try something…" She went back to the armor pile and pulled out the shield she had found earlier. "Try this on. I feel like it's from the same set!"

Lucina slipped the shield on as well, and Cynthia just smiled more. That was, of course, when Sully returned—fortunately without any of the boys in tow. When Sully saw Lucina, she chuckled.

"That's a nice look," Sully noted. "That set was left behind by an old friend of Chrom's—fitting that you'd be the next one to pick it up again. You can take it if you want."

"…Thank you," Lucina said, hesitant to make it seem like this was solely for her.

Luckily for her, however, Sully smiled at the other two as well. "You two might not fit in them yet, but there's armor in there from a friend of mine and a friend of Sumia's if you want to take them. Come to think of it, we have a lot of those kids' spares here…"

"'Kids?'" Kjelle repeated.

"Oh, you know—like people younger than the rest of us," Sully replied. To Lucina, her nonchalant response seemed to be…rather quickly mustered. "It's just a nickname the adults like to call 'em—you're 'the kids' too, you know, even with a fancy group." She looked at her daughter after a moment's pause and said, "Anyway, I was ready to head home if you are. There's still enough daylight out to make us halfway there, and the Ylisstol-bound ones can make it to the next town."

Kjelle glanced at Lucina, and with a small nod from the eldest, Kjelle looked back at Sully. "All right. Can we stop by one of those good inns on the way there?"

"Saying that neither of us can cook worth crap? It's either that or starve."

With a nod of agreement, Kjelle offered the other two a little wave and left with her mother. Lucina took off the armor despite Cynthia's wishes (Cynthia kept on insisting that it made Lucina look stronger), and then found a way to pack it up discreetly so neither of the boys would ask after it. They made it the rest of the way to Ylisstol with little to no problems.